Haredi men to Yesh Atid MK: Black slave, go back to Africa

According to MK Shimon Solomon, men cursed him and made comments on what they called his party's anti-haredi policies.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Yesh Atid MK Shimon Solomon 370 (photo credit: Courtesy Knesset)
Yesh Atid MK Shimon Solomon 370
(photo credit: Courtesy Knesset)
Several haredi men verbally attacked MK Shimon Solomon this week, using curses and racial epithets against the lawmaker who emigrated from Ethiopia.
Solomon (Yesh Atid) described the incident on Facebook, which occurred at a gas station on his way from the Knesset to his home in Ashdod.
According to the Yesh Atid MK, several men approached him and began cursing and making comments on what they called his party’s antiharedi policies.
“Yesh Atid is not against haredim,” Solomon told them. “This is a democracy, and it is legitimate to disagree and try to convince one another.”
One of the haredi men responded: “Black slave, go back to Africa” and told him he should end up like Tommy Lapid, the former justice minister and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid’s father, who is now deceased.
Solomon immigrated to Israel from the Tigray region of Ethiopia in 1980, at age 12.
“These people were motivated by hate. They didn’t want to listen to me, just to condemn and curse. I left the place because I saw there was no point in continuing; it was like talking to a wall. I have no doubt that if I had stayed, they would have been physically violent,” Solomon wrote.
The Yesh Atid MK added that he finds it unfortunate that those who claim to be Torah scholars do not behave with the respect the Torah teaches. However, he wrote, he is sure those men do not represent the haredi public.
“Haredi leaders and rabbis cannot stand silent when faced with the increase of violence in haredi society. Silence will be understood as agreement,” Solomon said.